The Wayside Inn Historic District is a historic district on Old Boston Post Road in

Sudbury, Massachusetts Sudbury is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,934. The town, located in Greater Boston's MetroWest region, has a rich colonial history. History Incorporated in 1639, the bou ...

. The district contains the

Wayside Inn The Wayside Inn Historic District is a historic district on Old Boston Post Road in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The district contains the Wayside Inn, a historic landmark that is one of the oldest inns in the country, operating as Howe's Tavern ...

, a historic landmark that is one of the oldest inns in the country, operating as Howe's Tavern in 1716. The district features

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

and

American colonial architecture American colonial architecture includes several building design styles associated with the colonial period of the United States, including First Period English (late-medieval), French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Dutch Colonial, and Georgian. T ...

. The area was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973.

The Wayside Inn

Other structures

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...

built a replica and fully working

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

and a white non-denominational chapel, named after his mother, Mary, and mother-in-law, Martha. Less well known is Ford's attempt to create a reservoir for the Wayside Inn. Across US Rte. 20 and now secluded in a wooded area behind private homes is a 30 ft. high stone dam. Dubbed by the locals as "Ford's Folly" the structure failed to retain water because the feeding brook provided insufficient volume and the ground was too porous for a pond to fill. In the grounds of the chapel stands the

Redstone School The Redstone School is an historic one-room school located in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Built in 1798, it is believed to be the school which Mary Tyler (née Sawyer) took her lamb to in the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". At the time of T ...

, a one-room schoolhouse which was moved from its original location in

Sterling, Massachusetts Sterling is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 7,985 at the 2020 census. History Sterling was first settled by Europeans in 1720 and was officially incorporated in 1781. Previous to its incorporation it was "t ...

, by Ford, who believed the building was the actual schoolhouse mentioned in

Sarah Josepha Hale Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (October 24, 1788April 30, 1879) was an American writer, activist, and editor of ''Godey's Lady's Book''. She was the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Hale famously campaigned for the creation of the ...

's poem "

Mary Had a Little Lamb "Mary Had a Little Lamb" is an English language nursery rhyme of nineteenth-century American origin, first published by American writer Sarah Josepha Hale in 1830. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7622. Background The nursery rhyme was ...

Gallery

Image:2006-03 - Ethan's 4th birthday 049.jpg Image:Wayside Inn2.jpg, The main entrance of the inn Image:Sign at the Wayside Inn.jpg Image:Marker at the Wayside Inn.jpg, A marker announcing

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

's passing through in 1775 File:Wayside_Inn_Sudbury_1935.jpg, The Wayside Inn, c. 1935 File:Wayside Grist Mill.JPG, The inn's

References

External links

*
At archive.org, the listing for the so-called "Front door diaries"
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Sudbury, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Open-air museums in Massachusetts

The Wayside Inn

Other structures

Gallery

See also

References

External links